Over the next three years, the New York Times (NYSE: NYT) will invest more than $50 million to grow its international digital audience and increase international revenue, the company announced yesterday.

In a memo to employees, Times’ publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr., CEO Mark Thompson and executive editor Dean Baquet explained the move:

“Because our digital report is still designed and produced mainly for a U.S. audience, we have not come close to realizing our potential to attract readers outside our home market. We are confident this will be a down payment on a new era of international growth for our company.”

The internal memo also said the Times sees the “opportunity to become an indispensable leader in global news and opinion” by expanding beyond the U.S.

To lead the effort, the Times has created a new team called NYT Global, reported Bloomberg. The team’s editorial strategy will be led by Joe Kahn, assistant masthead editor for international, and Stephen Dunbar-Johnson, the international president, will manage business operations. Deputy international editor Lydia Polgreen will move into the role of associate masthead editor.

This $50 million international digital expansion is part of the company’s strategy to double digital revenue to $800 million by 2020, a $400 million increase from 2014 revenue, and double the Times’ digital audience of 1.1 million, as of October 2015.

In the October 2015 memo about the Times’ pending transformation, Thompson said, “We need to move with much more urgency. For all that we’ve accomplished, our digital business is not yet close to supporting the scale of our ambitions.”

How the Times plans to use that $50 million to expand its global audience and revenue has not been publicly disclosed.

Insider Take:

As we said in October, we applaud the New York Times’ for its transparency as well as its ability to be nimble. While this well-known brand is doing a lot of great things to grow the digital side of the house, it must continue to adapt to its readers’ growing desire to access NYT online in the U.S. and abroad.

The company has made some strides in reaching out to an international audience already, including the launch of a Spanish-language edition in February, which will contribute toward the company’s goals, but there is an as-yet untapped opportunity to grow internationally, and the Times is ready to seize it.

As a newspaper stalwart, the Gray Lady sets a high bar for quality journalism, and it sets a good example for other subscription companies to follow. Know your audience, meet and exceed their needs, and strategically seize opportunities to grow that audience.